This gentleman is explaining to us how you steer this reproduction of a 1908 Bleriot; if you look carefully you may be able to see that this lever is actually behind the pilot. The reason being that the pilot wore a coat which had clips on its back into which this lever fitted, so as the pilot leant from side to side he steered it – as you can also see this is the original fly-by-wire!

On the right-hand side in the back-ground you should be able to make out the geodesic fuselage of the “Loch Ness” Wellington – so-called because that is where it crashed on New’s Year Eve in 1940 and from where it was salvaged in 1985.

In the foreground is a Hurricane (built at Kingston-on-Thames in 1940) which was used by a number RAF squadrons in 1941 before being shipped out to the Red Air Force in 1942. It was shot down in a battle with seven Messerschmitts and two other Hurricanes. Fifty years later its remains were found and shipped to St Petersburg before coming to Brooklands in 1999. Interesting to see its fuselage construction which is very similar to 1950s specials and quite unlike the Wellington.